Bala’s GreeneStone Alcohol and Drug Inpatient Treatment Centre will hold a Remembrance Day ceremony for its current residents that are veterans or active service members.
The outdoor ceremony will be held at the centre’s headquarters at 3571 Muskoka District Road 169.
“It is most important for us to support this time for reflection, on comrades lost and on each individual’s service experience,” the centre’s Director of Military Programming Chris Dupee tells the MyMuskokaNow.com newsroom. “For some, it will be their first Remembrance Day without the use of substances. We are providing an environment for them to get through safely.”
The centre held a private ceremony last year.
Community members are allowed to attend this year’s ceremony. Dupee says they will feature Indigenous veterans in the ceremony.
“(A drummer) is going to lead a march in with the piper and then he’s going to give a warrior song to open the ceremony for us,” he explains. Other than that, he says it will be a traditional ceremony.
“Remembrance Day is the pinnacle of what we do,” he says.
GreeneStone offers programming specific to veterans and active service members. Dupee went through the program in 2018.
“I’ve been totally blessed to be able to come back week after week ever since,” he says.
He says the virtues they lean on are togetherness and community. Part of what they do is encourage the military members to engage with their community. He says Muskoka – and every other community – is made up of so many characters. “We don’t get along with every character, but that’s an opportunity to figure out how to,” he says.
He believes addiction and trauma go hand-in-hand. “What also goes hand in hand is Remembrance Day and alcohol,” he adds. When military members past and present get together, he says it usually involves them having drinks. “It’s almost like a yearly peer support system,” Dupee says.
Dupee, along with therapist Jim Hall, lead the military-specific programming with help from Veterans Affairs Canada and the Canadian Forces Health Services.
“There’s a depth of understanding that we have with one another that I don’t think can be replicated,” Dupee says. The conservations the groups have tend to be focused on military issues. Dupee adds that when a new person joins, it’s powerful for them to be able to sit, listen, and be able to relate to someone else.
“For the most part, we do believe we’re alone and we’ll seclude ourselves to make sure that we are,” Dupee says, adding that bridging that gap is vital.
The program has been in place for a decade and Dupee says what they’ve been able to do is important in keeping our community healthy.